Sharp Mesa Vista recognized for outstanding nursing quality

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The American Nurses Association has honored six hospitals with the NDNQI Award for Outstanding Nursing Quality, including Sharp Mesa Vista in San Diego.

The six hospitals, recognized Feb. 7 in Atlanta at the ANA's Nursing Quality Conference, were identified by researchers from among more than 1,900 hospitals that report results to the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators and measure their performance against other NDNQI hospitals regionally, statewide and nationwide.

The six recipients "demonstrated superior results and sustained improvement in patient outcomes that are tied to the quality of nursing services and nurse work environment factors," according to an ANA news release.

A total of 17 clinical process and patient outcome measures were evaluated to determine overall quality. The winners are:

* Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, N.J. (in the academic medical center category). The facility reduced its patient falls are by more than 50 percent in a unit for adults with cardiac-related diseases combined with other conditions. Staff performed safety huddles at the beginning of each shift to identify risks, and implemented prevention strategies such as bed alarms and risk mitigation during hourly nursing rounds.

* St. Francis Hospital — The Heart Center, Roslyn, N.Y. (community hospital). St. Francis, which cares for patients with cardiac medical problems and performs cardiac and vascular surgery, decreased the number of patients developing hospital-acquired pressure ulcers soon after surgery by 21 percent over six years.

* Akron Children's Hospital Mahoning Valley, Boardman, Ohio (pediatric hospital). Akron Children's decreased its bloodstream infection rate for very-low-birth-weight infants, a leading cause of disease and death for premature babies, by 30 percent through implementation of evidence-based practices for central venous catheter insertion and maintenance processes across its five neonatal sites.

* Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital, San Diego (psychiatric hospital). Sharp Mesa Vista had no incidences of physical restraints for four consecutive quarters and scored in the top 15 percent in patient satisfaction with nursing among NDNQI-participating hospitals.

* Rose Medical Center, Denver (teaching hospital). The facility reduced ventilator-associated pneumonia, the leading cause of death resulting from hospital-acquired infections, from 17 cases in 2008-09 to one case in 2011-12. The staff improved team-based oral care standards and implemented a series of interventions proven to reduce infection rates.

"Nurses recognize that our health care system is becoming more focused on performance standards and patient outcomes," ANA President Karen A. Daley, R.N., Ph.D., FAAN, said in a news release. "That's how it should be, that's how nurses approach their work and that's what this award is all about.

"Nurses have the power to influence a patient's hospital experience and, most importantly, their ultimate health outcome through their teamwork, innovation, leadership and dedication. The award winners show they have performed best in that regard."

For more information about NDNQI, visit www.nursingquality.org/.

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